The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • C1

TUESDAY C1 THE FRESNO BEE-CHASETHE FRESNO BEE CHASE 1 Logical Page is THE FRESNO 00:30 Charging back San Diego scores in the final minute to keep Oakland winless in their past 12 meetings. i Check us out online at fresnobee.com/sports Editor: Matt Lloyd, (559) 441-6340, SPORTS Cougars are cooking Clovis nonleague victory at Atascadero on Friday was the first in September after 10 consecutive losses in the month since 2006. High schools coverage, Page C6 The Fresno Bee Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Snowboard: Finch wins Heli Challenge. Page C2 Baseball: Valley Players in the Pros. Page C5 might not fire Fresno State safety Bell fights knee injury.

By Daniel Lyght The Fresno Bee His teammates call him the human missile, but Lorne Bell may not be detonating this week. Fresno starting free safety has a strained knee and might not be available for Fri- home game against No. 10 Boise State. Bell strained his MCL when he hyperextend- ed his knee near the end of reg- ulation during dou- le -over ime loss at Wiscon- sin. Neither Bell nor resno State coach Pat Hill could say Bell would certainly play Fri- day in Fresno first West- ern Athletic Conference game of the season.

Hill said Monday he think he would have the junior. Bell ready to submit to the injury just yet. feels real good right now, so see what happens this week. It feels a lot better since the Bell said be- fore practice Monday. He appear to practice with the team for the 15 minutes of practice the media was permit- ted to watch.

Bell the only defend- er who got hurt Saturday. Chris Carter fractured his mid- dle finger, and fellow end Matt Akers injured a shoulder and was wearing a sling. Carter said he will play Friday. Hill said See BULLDOGS, Page C2 The Broncos are coming FRESNO STATE VS. NO.

10 BOISE STATE 8 Vitals: 6 p.m. Friday at Bulldog Stadium 8 Records: Bulldogs 1-1, Broncos 2-0 8 TV: ESPN 8 Radio: KMJ (AM 580), KGST (AM 1600) 8 Online: Get your fill of all things Bulldogs football at www.fresnobee.com/ 8 Inside: UCLA QB change coming? San Jose State makes one already. Page C3 By Josh Dubow Associated Press OAKLAND Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers opened the season doing what they do best: beating the Oak- land Raiders. Rivers answered a pair of go-ahead scores by Oakland by leading two touch- down drives, capped by Darren 5-yard run with 18 seconds left that gave the Chargers their 12th straight in this one-sided rivalry, 24-20 Monday night. This might have been the toughest one of the bunch.

JaMarcus Russell had given Oakland a 20-17 lead with a 57-yard touch- down pass to rookie Louis Murphy with 2:34 left. But despite having two backup linemen in the game, Rivers calmly led the Chargers down the field for the win- ning score. thing I know is no team in this league can practice 2-minute situations as much as we Rivers said. a lit- tle different executing it on Murphy Can- yon Road as it is in Oakland. I said: done this a million times, go score.

All we need is I was talking to myself, Rivers was 6 for 7 for 79 yards on the winning drive before Sproles silenced the crowd with his run up the middle. This marked the 11th straight loss in prime time and perhaps the most painful, considering how close they came. football team played its guts out and finish the coach Tom Cable said. the bottom They took a 13-10 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski before Rivers drove the Chargers down and gave them the lead with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson. Then fourth- down pass to Murphy looked as if it would provide an emphatic end to a pair of los- ing streaks.

Instead, it was just a footnote to Oak- league-worst 73rd loss since the start of the 2003 season. The Chargers of fense looked over- matched for much of the night against newly acquired Richard Seymour and the Raiders defense. See RAIDERS, Page C2 Tom Brady played much of the game conserva- tively. ASSOCIATED PRESS Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Giants manager Bruce Bochy was a little nervous about his ace pitcher. Tim Lincecum put him at ease.

Lincecum pitched seven strong in- nings in his return from a balky back, Eugenio Velez drove in four runs and the San Francisco Giants gained ground in the NL wild-card race with a 9-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night. kept checking up on Bochy said. was a little anxious to see him out there. After the first inning I could tell he was Bengie Molina homered and scored three runs and Aaron Rowand drove in two for the Giants, who moved within games of Colorado for the wild card. Juan Uribe and Fred Lewis also drove in runs for San Francisco.

Lincecum, who missed his previous turn with back spasms, threw 116 pitch- es and had only one clean inning. The See GIANTS, Page C2 Back on center stage A year after being sidelined with torn knee ligaments, Tom Brady (below) resembled a rusty game manager more than the invincible record-setting quarterback. Yet, he threw two touchdown passes in the final 2:06 as the New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills on Monday night. Page C3 Gaining little ground 49ers coach Mike Singletary is stressing the importance of San Francisco finding its running game, especially after its win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. The 49ers managed just 21 total yards on 25 carries, the fewest yards rushing in a victory in franchise history.

Page C3 Urlacher out for season The Chicago star linebacker underwent surgery Monday to repair a dislocated right wrist a major blow for a team with high expecta- tions. Page C3 By Howard Fendrich Associated Press NEW YORK Always so cool, so con- sistent, so in control of his emotions and his matches, Roger Federer amazingly let the U.S. Open championship slip from his grasp. Two points from victory against inex- perienced, unheralded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, two points from a sixth consecutive title at Flushing Mead- ows and a record-extending 16th Grand Slam title overall, Federer, quite simply, fell apart Monday. He railed at the chair umpire.

His legs grew weary. His double-faults mounted. He could not figure out a way to stop the 6-foot-6 del Potro from pounding fore- hand after forehand past him. In a result as shocking for who lost as how it happened, the sixth-seeded del Potro came back to win his first Grand Slam title by upsetting the No. 1-seeded Federer 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

I look back and have some re- grets about said Federer, never be- fore beaten by anyone other than Rafael Nadal in a major final. you know, you have them all and always play your He had won 40 consecutive matches at Flushing Meadows. He had won 33 of his previous 34 Grand Slam matches. And he has made the final at 17 of the past 18 Grand Slam tournaments, 21 overall. Del Potro? This was the first Grand Slam final, and he was 0-6 See U.S.

OPEN, Page C5 No. 1 Federer denied at Open 20-year-old Argentinian shocks top player. MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL CHARGERS 24, RAIDERS 20 MORE INSIDE NL-best Dodgers beat Pirates. Page C2 Lorne Bell ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS San Diego running back Darren Sproles dances in the end zone after scoring the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter against Oakland. Lincecum, Giants top Colorado San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlin- son, right, fumbles the ball and is brought down by Greg Ellis (99) during the first quarter.

The Raiders recovered the ball. ASSOCIATED PRESS Roger Federer, above, had never been beat- en by anyone other than Rafael Nadal, but that changed Monday at the U.S. Open..